"I think the issue is whether the campaign literature is misleading to the public, so that people won't go leaping to a false conclusion if they read some of these things," said Barbara Thomas, coordinator for the group.

The races for two seats on the all-Republican Halfmoon Town Board have turned into some of the most hotly contested elections in the region. In September, Stephenson and Christopher called on Republicans to return at least $138,347 in "tainted" campaign donations given to them and the GOP committee by developer Bruce Tanski, who was arrested in August on campaign-related criminal charges. Soon after, Christopher abruptly quit the race, saying Republicans were preparing to publicize his arrest in a 1995 drug case in which charges against him were dismissed.

Christopher said he was never involved with drugs or those convicted in the case, but he stopped campaigning to protect his family. He re-entered the race for a council seat last week, saying voters urged him to stay in it.

He and Stephenson filed a complaint with Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region on Sunday. They dispute the contents of mailer paid by the Halfmoon Republican Committee titled "Self-Serving?" The two-sided flier states Christopher deceived voters by hiding the 1995 arrest. It also states Stephenson "covered- p and lied" about the arrest and only started voting after she became a candidate. She says both of those claims are false. Tom Lundquist, chairman of the Halfmoon Republican Committee, had said two weeks ago his party had no plans to use the information in campaign literature. The Democrats called on Jordan and Connors to disavow the statements and committee's support.

Jordan and Connors filed their complaint with the group on Tuesday. They accuse Democrats of unfairly lumping them together with Tanski, who Jordan says in her complaint "is only accused, not convicted of anything." Jordan, who was appointed to the Town Board this year to fill a vacancy, says Christopher and Democrats wrongly alleged last month she was using "tainted" cash to get elected.

Connors objects to a Stephenson campaign mailer titled "It wasn't just one bad apple." That flier states the town has "seen more arrests and scandals" since the last campaign. He says Stephenson unfairly tries to tie him and Jordan to the arrests of Tanski and former Supervisor Melinda Wormuth. The Republican supervisor stepped down last year after her arrest on a federal indictment charging her with bribery and extortion and state charges accusing her of stealing thousands of dollars from a campaign account.

The 15-year-old Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region consists of members of the League of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties and the Interfaith Alliance of New York State, Capital Region. The group will release decisions on the campaign complaints by this weekend.

Wednesday's hearing may be the closest thing town voters will get in terms of a debate in the two races. Democrats recently wrote Republicans asking if they would participate in a candidates' forum before the Nov. 4 election. The invitation noted that additional details could be worked out.

Asked if a forum would happen, Lundquist said that while he had heard about the request, Democrats did not include specifics about a date, time, location, format, issues and moderators. "Therefore, at this time, we are not aware of any scheduled debate," Lundquist said.